Palestinians' Historic Vote Nears

Democracy And Religion Offer Potent, Puzzling Mix

JERUSALEM — For Palestinian Muslims preparing to cast their first votes ever in this week's historic elections, democracy is not only confusing, it may even be sacrilegious.

From Jerusalem to the Gaza Strip, Islamic sheiks preaching to the faithful in mosques are wading into the political fray and sending mixed signals on next Saturday's Palestinian autonomy elections.

Some, like Sheik Yousef Abu Sneineh, argued at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque that democracy is haram, forbidden under Islamic law because only God can govern and legislate, not the people. Therefore voting is forbidden, especially if it supports a peace process granting Israel the right to exist on lands once claimed by Palestinians.

Others, like Sheik Akrima Sabri, mufti of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, have argued in the same sacred mosque that Islam permits--even encourages--Muslims to vote. Sheik Sabri was appointed mufti by Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, the front-running candidate for president.

In the Palestinian election campaign, now in full swing across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, politics and religion, democracy and demagoguery sometimes are hard to separate, let alone sort out.

More than 1.1 million Palestinians have registered to vote at 1,696 ballot boxes in 16 electoral districts throughout the Palestinian-ruled territories vacated by Israeli forces after a 28-year occupation, as well as in disputed Hebron and East Jerusalem.

Under the peace plan Israel and the PLO signed last fall at the White House, Palestinians are to elect a president and a legislative council.

The elections have generated enormous excitement and enthusiasm among Palestinians. There are 676 candidates, including a number of women, competing for 88 council seats.

Arafat and a slate of handpicked council candidates from his Fatah faction in the PLO are expected to win overwhelmingly.

Dozens of independent candidates are running, including Fatah mavericks, but Islamic and nationalist opposition parties and factions representing about 25 percent of the population are boycotting the vote.

This accounts for some of the warnings emanating from the mosques. And there is some fear Islamic militants still might try to disrupt the elections, especially after the slaying Jan. 5 of Yehiya Ayyash, a popular Hamas bombmaker known as "The Engineer." The killing allegedly was masterminded by Israel.

"Whoever believes in the land of Palestine as a Muslim will not go to these elections," declared Abu Abdullah, 28, a religious Islamist from the West Bank who opposes peace with Israel and refuses to vote.

"Whoever gets elected will negotiate the final status of Jerusalem with the Israelis," he said. "They will give all of Palestine to the Jews, and it is forbidden in our religion to do this."

But others streaming out of the Old City through the ancient Damascus Gate Friday after midday prayers were more positive, despite the heavy presence of Israeli police and soldiers in flak jackets, some mounted on horses, keeping close watch on the crowd.

"I plan to vote. It's a good thing. It's the first time we've had such an election after an occupation of almost 30 years," asserted Radwan Abu Kwiek, 38, a Muslim who runs a tile shop in nearby Ramallah.

"At least we get something out of this peace. It's not enough, but it's better than nothing. It's the first step," he added.

Like many Palestinians, Abu Kwiek hopes the peace process will lead to a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, something Israelis oppose because they claim Jerusalem as their eternal, undivided capital.

Arafat has been using the peace accord and the Israeli troop withdrawals from six West Bank towns and hundreds of villages over the last few months as a springboard toward an expected sweeping victory in the presidential elections.

Despite criticism that Arafat has defined the outcome of the election, the Clinton administration, Israel and other supporters of the peace process portray these elections as a stepping stone towards Palestinian democracy.

The latest poll by the independent Center for Palestine Research and Studies in Nablus shows Arafat with an estimated 68.5 percent of the vote among 1,168 Palestinians surveyed in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in December. In Gaza, seat of his self-rule Palestinian Authority, the poll showed him with 77 percent of the vote.

The only person running against him in the presidential race is Samiha Khalil, 73, head of a West Bank women's organization, who advocates making improvements in the Israel-PLO peace accord.

The legislative race is more of a free-for-all, with Arafat maneuvering to stack his Fatah slates with a variety of longtime loyalists, formerly exiled PLO leaders and powerful family and clan candidates in different districts.